Barrie and biz on same page: mayor

BARRIE - Business and Barrie are on the same page when it comes to building a stronger economy through entrepreneurship education and fostering partnerships to bolster labour and investment.
An Ontario Chamber of Commerce study recently surveyed 2,386 businesses as part of Emerging Stronger 2013, a business-driven economic development agenda. Central Ontario businesses said entrepreneurship should be integrated into school curriculums and governments and business should partner to attract skilled labour.
The survey revealed 72 per cent of businesses are confident about the future and 60 per cent are planning to expand over the next five years.
The findings link up with Barrie's agenda to attract skilled labour, encourage entrepreneurship and attract foreign direct investment, said Mayor Jeff Lehman.
"It's great to see that businesses agree with the importance of foreign direct investments and new markets, particularly the survey finding that 45 per cent of Ontario businesses see China as the most important new market," he said.
"More generally, it's extremely encouraging to see 60 per cent of companies saying that they plan to expand over the next five years."
Barrie is planning to further examine business attitudes as it continues to make the city "open for business", said city CAO Carla Ladd.
"We are turning to the business community to help us identify areas of improvement that would have the greatest short-term and long-term impacts on the way we do business," she said. "Our goal is to make Barrie the best place to do business. So we want to hear from the business community as our strongest advocates and partners to help us build a strong economic future."